Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-10-18

On the question of unrestrained free
dom there are serious things to be said,
and no one who has watched, with ach>
ing heart, the reckless actions that man Y
girls of our day will indulge in all uncOn
sclous of their danger, can refrain from
admitting the terrible truth in the follow
ing remarks of the Omaha World:
Thousands OF the best homes and kind
est parents in the world turn til ir
daughters out into society to drift abunt
in the snares and traps lying so thick
about them letting them go out with
young men of doubtful morality, going
TO balls that take up nearly the whole
night, and keeping as late hours as they
please, and with whomsoever they please,
and then are Mortified when they find hat
Their girl, that they sent out all Inno
cence and trust to cope with the world,
has fallen prey to some scheming but
polite, genial and winning man who is all
guilt Can parents who are thus guilty
curse daughter who has fallen into pits
from which they could and should have
warned her?
1t is the first wrong step of girl taken
lnnocently, and not the last. that ruins
her. And nine times out of ten that first
step the watchtul careful eye of parents
could have prevented. Let not parents
who know how full the world is of temps
tatlon to women blame too barshly the
daughter who has fallen by reason of not
knowing little of the things of which
her mother might have warned her. For
1t is too often the over~indulgence of pa
rents that give the reIDs and license for
the first step that lead 10 the ruin of the
girl and to the sorrow and woe of all who
love her. Any close observer in civ or
IN a town now can see almost every day
sweet and lovely innocent girls taking
their first fatal step. Girls are seen TAX
ing their first step IN handkerchief firta-
tons on the streets with some man they
do not know, or If they do, they ought
not to know. Again, it is seen in one |
step too far at a ball in some sacrifices |
OF mo1esty, or too great Familiarity, of |
which the Young libertine who WAS her |
partner, boasts to his chums the next day,
adding still more TO it, Sometimes it is |
taken In answering q clandestlne letter; |
at Others in long and late walks at night .
IN secluded places, terminating in q sup
per somewhere at which wine adds to a
flame already, but perhaps uncOnsciously,
started. 1t IS taken, too, in n clapdes.
tine kiss at the gate or in Il carriage-a
Kiss not OF brother or accepted lover,
but OF pirate and his poison; in the
secret reading OF an intlammatOry hook.
secretly and shrewdly loaned, and in
many other ways ! need not mention.
The sweetest, purcst thing in all the
world is pure young girl. when sue is
Just emerging from the violet and daisy
held OF youth and blu hing into all the
Leauiy OF wOmanhnnd Standing thus
IN her purity. she moves more u thing of
heaven than of earth, and all heaven con.
tains nothing that should be more sacred
from the touch of the spoiler. But the
earth is not heaven, and that which good
people would hedge about as sacred, thou
sands OF evil hearted men would trample
down into the mire of earth and into the
fires of he'll. Let the parents who know
tnls and see their daughters stepping out
OF their arms IN all the radiance of girl
lsh beauty or ripening womanhood look
more closely to the safety and purity of
their jewels. Let the girls, too, listen
more faithfully to the low toned monitor
OF delicate instinct that nature has placed
IN every pure woms breast, and not
trust as fair all that seemeth so, and there
will be fewer such tragedies, fewer girls
and women falling to depth that is be-
Ow and beyond the darkness of death